I just love it when I’m right. I had predicted that Linderman was himself special, hence his fascination and connection with every single one of our heroes in this show – and I was right! Granted, the man is also a stark, raving lunatic, but I do believe his _intentions_ are good. But it is not just his former core group of friends who have lost their way. Linderman has lost his, as well, if he believes his plan will really cede the results he desires.
And Kring must have heard his fans speak – this week’s episode had a voiceover, albeit from Linderman himself. Of course, with the kind of break they just came off of, the voiceover was more or less necessary to bring everyone back up to speed on what’s happening.
I must admit to being somewhat dissatisfied with the show as a whole right now, though. There’s been some commentary that Kring doesn’t seem to really know where he’s taking the show, and that it’s showing up in the hodge-podge manner of the overlapping story arcs. I’m ok with this, to some extent, because a lot of novelists don’t know where there books are going until they are done. What I’ve noticed, however, is that Kring’s writing seems…. shallow – a necessary evil for so many story arcs in one show, I admit, but in my opinion several story arcs does not necessarily mean that the writing need be any less rich. But I do get the impression that Kring isn’t quite sure what to do with all these special people, and so he’s started writing them more shallowly and thinly, spreading them out and never really letting the audience get to see or know any one of them for more than a few seconds. We know what they can _do_ but we still don’t, for the most part, know who they _are_ – and I, for one, would like to get to know these characters a lot better than I already do.
Along those same lines, I get the impression that Kring is getting impatient with his own storyline – and that’s never a good thing. The previews for next week suggest that at least one or two of the remaining chapters will be spent exploring the world of five years future, a world that none of us will like. I suspect that we’ll get to see our heroes with their developed abilities and that Kring will then try to tie that back into the bomb that will level New York. This _could_ be done with such aplomb and flare as to leave us breathless with the beauty of it, but I suspect it will end up being just more shallow writing. There is so much potential here to make this a stunning final few episodes. I just don’t know if Kring has what it takes to write these episodes with that kind of artistry and skill.
I was _very_ disappointed in the fight between Peter and Sylar. That had the potential to be epic, and instead it fell flat on its face. Literally. Twice. It was, in a word, _pathetic_. I can understand Kring not really wanting these two characters to truly face-off yet, but it certainly could have been better than it was. Heck, Peter had more than ample warning about what Sylar was planning to do, and yet he still fell victim to the trick. And why the heck was his _back_ to Sylar, especially when he started out facing him?
I’m trying very hard not to be disillusioned by the way _I_ think this show should be written, but honestly, I almost think I could make a better show of it than Kring is doing right now. I see narrative shortcuts taking place that serve to move the story forward but that do so very awkwardly. I’d even be ok with the fact that most of his characters have been blatantly ripped off from other sources, since for me it’s more about the way the _story_ is told – but as you can see, I’m not altogether satisfied with how the story is being handled and would like to see Kring do some better things with it.
Anyone think he’d hire me on as a staff writer for the show? I’ll continue watching to the end, just because there _are_ enough redeeming factors to keep it interesting and fun – and I’ll hope that the writing improves from here on out.
First I must say that I missed having this show on the air.
Second, I agree with just about everything you said here. The Peter/Sylar fight started good, then Peter gets hit by glass and dies? He should have been right behind Sylar when he got caught and had another bit of a struggle before he got hurt. Then having Mohinder able to knock out Sylar who’s a Super villain when Peter couldn’t do anything to him seemed odd.
What I miss, is the sense of wonder, the sense of empowerment that everyone had during the first 2-3 episodes. Remember that? I know it was almost a year ago, but in the first episode, things were so rich compared to how they are now.
I am sad we didn’t have much Hiro, but next week will be more about him so that’s good.
And finally something happened with the Niki/Jessica storyline even though they sucked in this episode, Mikah is now with Linderman and I bet he’s the key to Linderman’s plan. He’s so smart and good with electronics, I bet he builds the bomb or something incredibly diabolical without even knowing it. And now Niki/Jessica will be trying to get her son back so she finally has a purpose besides the whole I hate you husband thing where they bicker but don’t do anything.
Yeah, it’s definitely becoming more and more disappointing to watch the writing for this show deteriorate. I _still_ don’t get the whole Nikki/Jessica bit – I mean, is she good or evil? And aside from the whole split soul/super-strength bit, there’s really nothing much special about her. There’s a LOT more potential to her character than what Kring is tapping into, which is a cryin’ shame.
I gotta admit, I’ve never been a full-on-fan of the show.. i saw this from the start in how the show was promoted before it opened. Too many unanswered q’s that don’t go anywhere. I will, however, urge ’24’ to become the new fav. Plot-writing there, though, is “non-stop.” Seriously, the plot of the whole past season ended 2 weeks ago, only to have Jack get a call and open up a new ‘personal life’ plot. That’s almost crazy too.